


Bildnis einer Frau

by NYWCgirl



Category: White Collar
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Heists, Pre-Series, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 19:21:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21933841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NYWCgirl/pseuds/NYWCgirl
Summary: A painting, presumably painted by Gustav Klimt has been found after it went missing from a museum in Piacenza
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Bildnis einer Frau

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LeesaPerrie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeesaPerrie/gifts).



> This ficlet was written as a Christmas stocking filler for Leesa_Perrie. Merry Christmas!  
> I saw this article in the newspaper and had to think of Neal and Mozzie.

Neal wakes up to a cold morning. He loves Christmas for its lights and decorations, but he hates the cold, give him a tropical island any day. His breakfast isn´t brought up yet, so he decides to take a quick shower before Maria comes up. Walking to the bathroom, he turns up the thermostat.

When he comes out, toweling his hair dray, he can hear Maria in the kitchenette. While waking into his dressing, he calls out to thank her for breakfast.

Clean and dressed, he sits down at the table, picking up the paper, while pouring his coffee. His eyes widen when he glances over one of the articles.

‘Bildnis einer Frau’ found in Piacenza

He takes a moment to read the complete piece while finishing his coffee. He gets up to find his cell and dials. He lets it ring four times and hangs up. He waits exactly one minute and fifty seconds before redialing, letting it ring twice and once again disconnects the line. He takes the newspaper again and re-reads the article.

When his phone rings, he answers, ‘You need to come over, now!’ He disconnects the phone after Moz confirms he’s coming.

* * *

‘What is the emergency?’ Mozzie exclaims while entering Neal´s loft.

Neal holds out the newspaper and Mozzie scans over the article.

‘That’s unfortunate.’

Neal studies his face, ‘unfortunate? I thought you sold that painting of had it in storage somewhere.’

Mozzie suddenly seems uncomfortable.

‘Well?’

‘I had it in storage.’

‘Well, I don´t think storing it in the wall of the museum where you steal it, is qualifying as storage.’

‘I don´t think you fully remember that night, Neal.’

Neal thinks back, Mozzie is right, the job didn´t go completely as planned and his memory is sketchy at best.

‘It was my priority to get you out of there Neal. You were hurt and needed medical attention.’

‘I know, we never talked about it, so I assumed…’

‘You were not in any condition to have a conversation with at that time. I was glad you were alive and semi-conscious, so we could get make our getaway.’

Neal remembers the searing pain in his head. Trying to get up again and trying to find his way back to Mozzie. After that, his memories are blurry and mingled. There’s pain, nausea, being poked and prodded.

‘So what happened?’

‘After you were shot, you managed to find your way back to me. I hid the painting behind a wall of the museum and managed to get you out of there. We left Italy to get you medical attention, which, if you can remember, took a bit longer than expected. So by the time you were back on your feet, we had the Wagner job and one thing led to another.’

Neal smiles, ‘oh well, quickly earned…’

‘Technically, you didn´t earn the Klimt.’

‘You’re right, no reason to cry over spilled milk. They can’t trace this back to us?’

‘No way, I was careful.’

‘OK, so we’re good. Want coffee?’

‘If you have a croissant with some of that homemade cherry confiture to go with that, yes, I will have some.’

Neal gets up and makes Mozzie a plate. When he sits down, he can see that Mozzie is already planning on something.’

‘What are you think about?’

‘There is a Klimt out there that needs appraising… You up for the job?’


End file.
